Honey and syrups made from concentrated fruit juice were the earliest known sweeteners. Today,…

4 x 400g/14oz cans chopped tomatoes

Method

Heat the oil in a pan and add the vegetables and bay leaf. Stir in the sugar with some salt. Gently cook for 10-15 mins until the veg is tender. Stir in the tomatoes and 150ml water. Simmer very gently for 30 mins until the sauce has reduced by two-thirds and is very thick. (If you have doubled or tripled the quantities, this may take up to 1 hr.)

Stir occasionally, particularly towards the end of the cooking time, so that the sauce doesn’t catch on the bottom. If you like your sauce a little thinner, add a splash of water. Serve half with pasta and chill or freeze other half in 1-2 batches for later use (see 'Goes well with' for ideas of how to use up your sauce).

Wonderful basic sauce that can be used for anything. I cut the ingredients by half because I didn't want to make too much (no room in the freezer) and it still worked perfectly, and tasted delicious! Will definitely be using this recipe often!

Made this today in a frying pan to hasten the cooking process and grated the carrots like someone suggested As I had passata in the fridge I used that and made up the rest with about half a can of chopped tomatoes. I made half the quantity. And then used half that for the bean and sausage hotpot. It worked out well and the veg was nicely cooked doing it that way. I've learned from similar recipes to keep the veg small and cook it in a wide pan or you end up with carrots that won't soften and crunchy onions.

Made this a few times - great standby. I prepared a bagful of dried chickpeas and froze them a couple of months' ago. Girlie got them from the freezer, thinking it was my 'pea-and-ham soup' (To die for, by the way!).Think I'll lob them in to add a bit of 'je ne sais quo' - it'll be an experiment. If we can't actually eat it, the dog can. (Note to self: Go buy a dog tomorrow....)

The sauce came out really good! I used half of it for meat (baked chicken) and half of it with white fish, and surprisingly (for me at least) I liked it more with the fish! Gave it a really nice flavour.

I've just made this and it was a real store cupboard and fridge clear out special using up whatever I had. I blitzed all the veg in my processor as I didn't want identifiable chunks of carrot etc and I used a mix of passata and tinned toms and red onions as that's what I had to hand... oh and rose wine instead of water. I also chucked in a red chilli. I reduced the sauce for an hour and a half because I wanted a deeper flavour it tastes yummy - sausage and bean stew for dinner tonight and two pour and store bags leftover to freeze.

a useful recipe to have as a guideline. I adjusted the sugar, seasoning and garlic to taste.The main thing for me is that my toddler ate it which makes it good in my book. And as I've put a couple of containers of it in my freezer I've got meals ready and waiting.

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